ABSTRACT

This is a methodological paper that seeks to encourage thought about the nature of auto-ethnography and which types of auto-ethnography might be most worthwhile within educational research. It reviews the various types of auto-ethnographic writing within education, focusing initially on the accounts of the process of doing educational research which started to be published in the 1970s and 1980s. The paper discusses the merits and potential problems of such accounts, drawing upon examples of such work. During the 1980s and 1990s other forms of auto-ethnography in education started to be published that focused more on a contribution to knowledge through providing new data related to education. The paper discusses the merits and potential problems of this type of account, again drawing on various published examples. The paper argues that worthwhile auto-ethnography, of whatever type, should meet the criteria set for worthwhile ethnography as such.

摘要

这是一份方法论论文，旨在鼓励人们思考民族志学的性质以及哪种民族志学类型在教育研究中最值得。它回顾了教育中各种类型的自动人种志写作，最初侧重于教育研究过程的说明，该研究开始于1970年代和1980年代出版。本文以此类工作为例，讨论了此类账户的优点和潜在问题。在1980年代和1990年代，教育中的其他形式的民族志学开始出版，其更多地侧重于通过提供与教育有关的新数据对知识的贡献。本文再次利用各种已发布的示例，讨论了此类帐户的优点和潜在问题。